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Book Review – Compass Box Killer – Piyush Jha

There are times when you just want to read a cracker of a thriller. With work taking its toll on me, I wanted to read something that really makes me sit straight and finish the book in a single go. Thanks to Piyush Jha’s Compass Box Killer, I got what I wanted and I absolutely loved it. His previous book Mumbaistan caught hold of my attention but I could never really lay my hands on it but now I will, that too very soon.

The book opens with the death of Inspector Akurle. On investigation by the protagonist of the book, Inspector Virkar, it is found out that Akurle died after eating Vada Pav which was infested with “Ricin”, a silent killer which can be extracted from castor beans through a scientific process called chromatography. Inspector Virkar, takes charge of the case and starts investigating it aggressively. Suddenly two more deaths are reported, one of a doctor and another of a person who ran a NGO. The killer was too smart with his moves and left an old compass box as hints about his next move. His killing style and intelligence is what intrigued Virkar.

The entire happening took news and media by storm and with these frequent killings Raashi Hunerwal, a journalist working for a crime news channel, followed up the case quite aggressively like Virkar did. She crossed Virkar’s path several times and finally somehow got hold of everything that Virkar found out about the case.

A lot of running around, sleepless nights, too much brainstorming, love, betrayal, logical inferences and figuring out who the killer, everything about this book by Piyush Jha is just perfect. Everything makes sense and this is what makes the book completely unputdownable. The writing style is extremely simple and can be read by anyone and everyone. The plot and the narrative is well thought and everything has been put into place with extreme care and precision. Piyush Jha is also filmmaker and is definitely an author to watch out for. I am already waiting for his next book.